Carbed 302 +R2M2 Swap

[L0WnSL0W]

I have an 07 2WD 3.0 Ranger I'm looking to swap into next summer (or maybe there after)
I recently did a torsion bar to Coil Over front end conversion on my truck and have a Jaguar XJS IRS to put in the rear.
I have picked up a Carbed 302 from a an old truck 70s i believe that was in a an 80s mustang there after and I'm picking up a 03 R2M2 Transmission.
The engine already has serpentine belt pulleys on it and has all the accessories.
I'm looking to get a set of after market gauges (glowshift to match my others, they have a gps adapter for speedo) so I'm not worried about compatibility with my cluster.
I've read through several swaps and the how to do the 302 swap pages and have a general ideas of parts and things to expect to do.
I've scouted out oil filter relocate kits on summit that come out the side not straight and the engine already has a dual pan as it was in a mustang.
I'm looking at getting a set of long tube tri Ys from summit as those seem to be the most consistent I found for easier fitment from my reading.
I haven't scouted a radiator yet but am definitely going to go all aluminum with efan set up.
For the rear gears I was thinking 3.73 or 4.10 gears, my truck will have 29" (currently) or 30" tires. I live in a small town so most the time
it would be highway driving so leaning towards 3.73 gearing.
I read that you can reuse the ford rangers power steering and A/C but doesn't say the years just to get the appropriate brackets should I try to be doing this instead of using what's on the 302?
Mainly I was wondering if anyone had any general advice or recommendations, things they wish they did with their swap or knew about prior to starting swap.
I want to make sure I'm not missing anything silly, main go is for daily drive ability in the the warmer months.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

There are different balance 302's, around 80/81 they switched. If yours is from the 70's it is 28oz, later is 50oz.

So if your engine is from the 70's you would need a flywheel for like a '96 F-150 with a 351W/5.8 (the 351 never changed the balance) If it is 50oz you need the flywheel from like a '96 F-150 with a 5.0

Engine seperator plates are different, you need one from a 5.0/5.8 truck that had the M5OD as well as the starter.

70's 302's are pretty weak, it probably won't have much over your stock 3.0 aside from sound.

 

[L0WnSL0W]

There are different balance 302's, around 80/81 they switched. If yours is from the 70's it is 28oz, later is 50oz.

So if your engine is from the 70's you would need a flywheel for like a '96 F-150 with a 351W/5.8 (the 351 never changed the balance) If it is 50oz you need the flywheel from like a '96 F-150 with a 5.0

Engine seperator plates are different, you need one from a 5.0/5.8 truck that had the M5OD as well as the starter.

70's 302's are pretty weak, it probably won't have much over your stock 3.0 aside from sound.

Ill double check the stamping on the 302 to confirm that thank you.

do you mean weak like low HP ? cause i know it was in the 1XXHP ish range stock.
ideally i'd mod the 302 to get in the 300hp range nothing crazy which would be easier to do since the bits I've done to the 3.0 doesn't feel any better than stock but that could be because its auto
and challenging to get the revs up out and on top of that people around here want 1500-2000 for manual swaps so i got looking into the v8 swap and i got the 302 complete for $200, m2r2 for 275. since thats more worth the work at this point.

 

[L0WnSL0W]

just picked up the transmission dude gave me the complete hydros for it too

found a short shift kit mod/thread a guy did for his Tbird used a $40 mazda kit off amazon.
might give it a go when i rebuild the transmission has around 150k miles on it.

 

[SenorNoob]

found a short shift kit mod/thread a guy did for his Tbird used a $40 mazda kit off amazon.

Linky? I wanna see this.

 

[19Walt93]

By the mid 70's 302's were down to 139hp. From 73-76 the deck height was raised .023" to drop the compression and the timing gears were retarded 4-6 degrees. The cylinder heads were lousy as well, until 77 they used rail rockers which caused extreme valve guide wear and the exhaust ports were restricted by the cast in thermactor passages. I'd strongly recommend finding at least an 85 engine, an 87-96 would be even better. 85 and later Mustangs got roller cams, trucks got them later, with the current flat tappet cam/lifter failure problems a roller would be safer and better. An engine swap is expensive and a lot of work, the reuslts ought to be worth it.
302's used a 140 tooth flywheel in Mustang II's, otherwise they use either 157 or 164 teeth. The bellhousing and block plate have to match. The measurement shown would be16 7/8" on a 157 and 17 5/16 for a 164.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

By the mid 70's 302's were down to 139hp. From 73-76 the deck height was raised .023" to drop the compression and the timing gears were retarded 4-6 degrees. The cylinder heads were lousy as well, until 77 they used rail rockers which caused extreme valve guide wear and the exhaust ports were restricted by the cast in thermactor passages. I'd strongly recommend finding at least an 85 engine, an 87-96 would be even better. 85 and later Mustangs got roller cams, trucks got them later, with the current flat tappet cam/lifter failure problems a roller would be safer and better. An engine swap is expensive and a lot of work, the reuslts ought to be worth it.
302's used a 140 tooth flywheel in Mustang II's, otherwise they use either 157 or 164 teeth. The bellhousing and block plate have to match. The measurement shown would be16 7/8" on a 157 and 17 5/16 for a 164.
View attachment 116381

90's windsor trucks use a special sized starter hole because they had a different depth for the ring gear. AFAIK they were only used on the M5ODR2 trans, so if you get one of them you are golden. I know the 4.2 M5ODR2 plate is the same as an automatic.

It was like 2 hours of dremelling to carefully enlarge the hole when I discovered this after I had the trans and t-case in the truck.

SBF Engine Seperator Plates | The Ranger Station

 

[L0WnSL0W]

Linky? I wanna see this.

M5R2 Short Throw Modification: 2021

First things first, this is not something for faint of heart. This is not something if you just want to bolt something in and go. But, its a lot cheaper than a B&M ripper which has probably been through a couple transmissions and hard shifts already. Also, this isnt something to make your shift...

forum.birdcats.com

not 100% it will work in the truck version of the transmission but for $40 ima give it a go.

 

[SenorNoob]

Looks like it'd be the same process. I almost wanna try it. Should be easy enough to reverse if it didn't work out.

Edit: I just noticed the ball end on that. My lever has a kinda wedge shaped end. Honestly not sure it matters or couldn't be modified.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks like it'd be the same process. I almost wanna try it. Should be easy enough to reverse if it didn't work out.

Edit: I just noticed the ball end on that. My lever has a kinda wedge shaped end. Honestly not sure it matters or couldn't be modified.

Looks totally different than a RBV trans, I suspect they have a sort of remote shifter to get it placed like the regular T-5 that a normal car would have.

Mine out of an '04 F-150.



When you pull the top cover off you are greeted with this:



Truck shift stub shafts.



I modified my stub shaft to fit a chrome FX4 lever, I love it.

 

[superj]

the wedge one sounds like the ranger/mazda trans shifter in the picture above

 

[SenorNoob]

Ya know. Looking at your picture, I think if the spacer in kit was the right size then an R2 stub in an R1 would work the same way.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ya know. Looking at your picture, I think if the spacer in kit was the right size then an R2 stub in an R1 would work the same way.

The bottom lever on the stub of a R1 is quite a bit shorter than a R2.

 

[SenorNoob]

That's the point. Longer lever below the pivot makes the travel above the pivot shorter. Question is how to get a spacer to raise the pivot point on the transmission to match the longer lever. Next is how much difference would it really make?

 

[superj]

as a rough tester, get some type of phenolic resin cylinder similar in size and cut it down with your garage power tools. if it feels like it would work, take the rest of the phenolic reson cylinder and have a machine shop make it the right size for your part. or an aluminum cylinder to the machine shop so its sturdier